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I hear and I forget, I do and I understand, I see and I remember

Category Archives: Recent Personal Images

Out of Balance

This is a time when our core is being shaken.

We are feeling scattered and out of balance. The babel of voices: words, words and more words, promising this and that is a crazy making cacophony. The tsunami of numbers numb us and threatens to dehumanize this dreadful situation.

Seems that we are living in our own parable. A flu virus started in one place on the planet and within a short time it spread like a wildfire. Globalization is showing us how interconnected we are. Modes of travel make it possible for speedy transmission of a virus. Communication technology quickly spreads rumors and facts around the world. This creates more challenges and confusion. We try to sort things out, but this effort causes us more stress and leads to our feeling more out of balance. This is the dark side to our interconnectivity.

We do not have to be victims of this condition. Within us is the ability to regulate these influences. This new order of globalization makes possible another way of being with positive potential. Perhaps as no other time in history is it clearer that we share a universal connection. The challenge is, how can we find healthy ways to bring our relationships into balance?

Business leaders, companies, and politicians, do not and will not have the answer to this challenge.

The answer is simple and lies inside each of us. Do we want to live in a more aware and respectful way? Will we respect the laws of nature and each other? Will we have the desire to find stillness in the core of our being and create balance? Time will tell. As has happened in the past across many civilizations there comes a time when continuing to live in the same way no longer works, the order we perceive becomes shattered and out of balance.

If we take time to look within the current situation we’ll discover a light shining in this darkness that illuminates a new way. That light is our awareness, it is our respect for nature, each other and our shared unity.

Collectively we have created a globalized economy with profound interconnectivity and complexity. Surely we have the capacity to turn our abilities of intellect, calculation, and management of resources toward the goal of achieving balance through conscious connectivity.

A still point within the collective parts creates balance.

Our way of thinking does not cause calamities like the Covid-19 pandemic. The spread of the virus seems to be caused by international travel, lack of effective preventative actions: staying at home, distancing and sanitizing.

Understanding the link between our being and behavior can help us reset so we can live in a balanced way. Our way of thinking and being can help diminish disorders like the Covid-19 virus and future disruptions.

The individual rocks in the first image were organized with care, intention, and the idea of finding a still point whereby connection between each rock brings the group into balance. This metaphor may help us find a new way of being, individually and collectively. How can we live in relationship in a way that we support each other? How do we strengthen that still point within our core and create a balanced way of being individually and collectively?

There is no one answer, no single ideology. There will be many answers. What will organize the variety of ideas and connect them in a meaningful way is a new, more conscious way of being. The way we are, our being, will inform our behavior. As the age old cliche says, “Change starts with ‘me’.”

I’ve taken time to reflect on these ideas. Looking beyond the damage and death caused by Covid-19, I see an opportunity to reevaluate and understand how we got out of balance. By acknowledging that the way we are living together on the planet is out of balance, we can start a process of finding balance within our individual lives, and together.

Here are a few people I’ve found helpful as I search for balance in my life. They are offering knowledge and insights to us all for free. You may have resources you find helpful as you evolve toward a balanced way of living. I invite you to share them with me and I’ll repost them on this blog so we all may benefit. Thank you, Wayne Eastep

I particularly enjoy photographing people within their environment. Their place and stuff helps create a stage set for the story around their life. The warmth, beauty and energy in this home kitchen in Santa Fe is very much a reflection of the personality of famed chef Mark Miller.

Family portraits serve many purposes; illustrating the relationships between family members, marking a point in time, and showing the personalities of each person in the family.

No wonder when a natural disaster happens people universally search through the rubble to find family portraits which serve as a memory. It is axiomatic of the human condition that we are connected to memory.

When you want to create a memory of your family contact me for a portrait session: WayneEastep@gmail.com

Collaborating with executives and business people to create a warm, connected and “real” portrait is often a challenge. They are working under demands on their time and attention and feel the pressures of their position. Being able to engage with them so they feel safe enough to open up and show their personality and be present is often the primary challenge. I am proud of this portrait. He gave to the photo session as much as I did. The portrait was successful because he made his personality and energy available for me to observe.

Until recently my assignments have been on location worldwide. Now I work from my Studio in Sarasota, Florida. Contact me to set up an appointment. I’ll work with you to create a successful portrait.

Portrait of Gloria Nagy, author and Richard Saul Wurman creator of the TED Talks, in their home in New Port, Rhode Island. I made this image of them for a GE ad promoting GE-Monogram appliances. The concept was to show “Style” influencers in situ.

After decades of photographing people in the places where they live, now I am photographing people in the place where I live, Sarasota, Florida. To arrange a portrait session contact me at WayneEastep@Gmail.com. I can photograph you in my Studio in downtown Sarasota or come to your location.

Like this:

Happy winter solstice. The long days of darkness have passed. Now each day will bring more light and in time new life; grapes for wine, fresh arugula for salads, wheat for bread, raspberries for dessert…..

Fir tree in the Tien Shan mountains of Kazakhstan.

I turn to nature and celebrate the life and abundance that the light gives us. I hope to use each day to cultivate love, harmony, and beauty.